I had the great privilege of being a speaker and facilitator at the 2011 Asian Festival of Children's Content in Singapore. It was an honor - and great fun! - to be part of a panel discussion with Corinne Robson, associate editor and blog "Eventful World" coordinator of PaperTigers, and Dr. Myra Garces-Bascal, educator and founder of GatheringBooks. (Thank you so much, Myra, for putting the panel together!)
Our panel discussion was an introduction to the kidlitosphere and the YA blogosphere, and how Web 2.0 can be used to build a world of readers. I really believe in the power Web 2.0 has in building a world of readers. From the family of children's book bloggers to book trailers that create a need for YA books, and book fandoms on Tumblr to authors interacting with their fans through Twitter and Facebook, the book blogosphere and Web 2.0 in general can be very effective in strengthening and growing the community of readers. I could talk about this topic all day! If you attended the panel discussion, THANK YOU, and if you would like to continue the conversation on Web 2.0 and building a world of readers, please feel free to email me at asiaintheheartATyahooDOTcom. :o)
I am proud of the three sessions I facilitated:
Andrew Yeo of Tien Wah Press (one of the first two companies in the world to manufacture pop-up books!) presented a short history of the pop-up book and a detailed introduction to the paper engineering behind the pop-up book. I was amazed by how Andrew explained everything from the different kinds of pop-up books and how long it takes to put them together, to their paper and binding and recommended print runs!
After the very informative presentation, the audience gathered around Andrew's display to oooh and aaah over some of the pop-up books Tien Wah Press has produced over the years.
I also facilitated a presentation on the use of television in children's education by Rina Lopez-Bautista, founder of the Knowledge Channel, a television channel dedicated to bringing education and valuable teacher training to schools all over the Philippines. From the discussion at the end of the presentation emerged an idea well worth pursuing: Why not have an educational channel for children, like the Knowledge Channel, for the whole of Asia? I hope the session was already the first step to making this happen.
The last session I facilitated was educator Dennis Yeo's very helpful talk on how to use short films in the classroom to develop the critical thinking (visual literacy, prediction strategies, etc.) of students. From this session I picked up a lot of ideas for my own classes. Dennis' tips can be applied to teaching children, teens, and even adult learners!
ETA: Dennis is obviously a very good teacher. He was energetic, really engaged the audience, and gave us a lot to chew on!
Please watch this space because I was galvanized by the 2011 Asian Festival of Children's Content and will be blogging more about it over the next few days. :o)
I love pop up books. They are very involved and intricate and yet a toddler can destroy them within minutes! I bought my granddaughter at least 6 pop ups, all ruined. with my grandson, I've been buying them letting him use them with supervision - read to him, then put them up. At least they'll last longer - until he's mature enought NOT to tear at them. Of course the reason they get torn apart is because the kids are trying to figure out how they work. :)
ReplyDeleteMardel, can you believe there are actual paper engineers for pop-up books? I didn't know until I heard Andrew's talk!
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